S. Korea to publish white paper on sexual slavery

SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean government on Monday announced that it will publish the white paper on sexual slavery victims to tell the world the truth behind Japan's military sexual enslavement.

South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality & Family made the announcement on Monday to mark the 21st anniversary of the Kono Statement, an apology and acknowledgment of the militaristic Japan 's forced recruitment of Korean women as wartime sex slaves.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry in June also expressed deep regret over Japan's review of the Kono Statement, saying the review results misled the fact relevance and spoilt the reliability on the past apology.

The ministry said the white paper will be a comprehensive report that analyzes and compiles the data of the crimes involved in Japan's wartime sexual slavery and the damage done to the victims.

"New data, study results, and the interest of the international community led us to plan for publishing this white paper. The white paper will serve as a basic frame of reference in seeking solutions and more active responses to the issue of Japan's military sexual slavery victims," said Kim Heejung, Minister of Gender Equality & Family.

She added that they plan to translate it into various languages including English, Chinese, and Japanese and distribute it worldwide.

The white paper is scheduled to be published at the end of 2015, a year marking the 70th anniversary of South Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule.

It will be written by 10 South Korean experts in history, diplomacy, international law, Japanese studies and others in consultation with 18 public and private advisory panelists.

The white paper will explore Japan's wartime sexual slavery system by looking at it from the bigger picture of Imperial Japan' s war and its colonization policies. It will list changes on official stances of South Korea, Japan and the international community with regard to the issue since South Korea's liberation till today.

The researchers will also compile data on the civil society's movement for the victims including data on the movement of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sex Slaves by Japan as well as other overseas related data, according to the ministry.

South Korea has kept demanding the Japanese government to acknowledge, apologize and atone for its wartime crimes.

Japan has claimed all issues related to its wartime atrocities, including the forcible recruitment of Korean women as prostitutes, were resolved under the 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Among 237 South Korean women who identified themselves as former sex slaves, only 55 are still alive.